Saturday, October 20, 2012

As the title says, New Years resolutions always seem like a good idea at the time. I really did start this blog and my book goals with the best of intentions but you know "the best laid plans of mice and men...". So here we are coming up on the tail end of the year and I'm no where near my goal of books read or blogs posted but I'm not going to give up. My stack of books has grown significantly and my list of finished books has not but I'm not going to give up, there is still time.

I do have a few books to talk about and I might be leaving out 1 or 2 that I've read since my last post but as I looked through my bookcase these are the only ones I recalled reading so I figure they are the only ones worth talking about.

Ready? Set? Lets go!

The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure club and I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies) both by Laurie Notaro. This author has turned into my guilty pleasure because it has to be wrong to enjoy something so much. This broad is FUNNY and she writes well and should definitely be on your reading list. I enjoyed these so much that I went out and bought 2 more. Each chapter is like a short story or an essay and I literally laughed out loud while reading these. I highly recommend and if I had to pick Between the 2 I'd say start with "I love Everybody..." I think I'm partial to this one because there is a chapter where the author and her best friend go to a tea house and the hilarity ensues, this chapter struck home so much because it not only reminded me of antics me and my best friend have gotten into but also felt like something that was bound to happen to us. So, in closing this shit is funny, read it, enjoy it and don't feel guilty.

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage - Alice Munroe
This is a collection of short stories about...well...life, I guess. I've been asked about this book and I really struggled with describing it. It was enjoyable but I struggle with putting it into words. Alice is a spectacular Canadian writer and the stories in this book take place in Canada mostly in the mid to late 50's. I wouldn't call this collection a must read but also I don't regret reading it. From that glowing review, I guess I'd say don't put off something you're really looking forward to reading to start this instead.

This Shape We're in - Jonathan Letham
Ill start this review by bragging to you about an accomplishment. If you've read any of my other posts then you'll know that Jonathan Letham is my favorite author. This is the fault of my best friend who innocently told me one day many years ago that I should read Fortress of Solitude. Little did she know that by introducing me to J.L. That I'd become obsessed, but here we are and my accomplishment I wanted to brag about, is that I'm just a few books from owning his whole collection (and there are a lot). Ok that being said, of course this book was good, weird and good. I put J.L. Into a few boxes, his novels that refer to sci-fi, his novels that are sci-fi and his essays on music. These boxes often overlap and you'll find parts of each in any book he writes but some are heavier in one category or another. This book is super sci-fi and was also spectacular. It was short and great and I loved every page. The funny thing about Letham is that I'm still in awe that I like him so much because I'm really not a sci-fi fan and I think that's a huge testament to his writing. As I always advise I highly recommend you read this or anything by Letham.

Ok so FINALLY a new post, thank you to the 1.5 people that actually read this. I've been really into comedy books lately do I'm currently reading "You're a horrible person, but I like you. The Believer Book of Advice" and next up is "Evil Plans. Having Fun On the Road to World Domination" - Hugh Macleod. Stay tuned for my next update.